KYIV (Reuters) – A soldier was killed in November fighting Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, Anna Birzul sprang into action, penning a petition asking President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to award 29-year-old Bohdan Krotov the highest military honour, Hero of Ukraine, following a period of grief. Anna Birzul was crying when she spoke. “We buried him on the 26th, and already on the 27th I had written it,” she said, standing at Krotov’s grave in a Kyiv cemetery. A portrait of the combat medic, smiling, hung beneath a fluttering Ukrainian flag that featured his Interior Ministry unit’s insignia.
More than 2,000 petitions have been submitted, usually by a relative or a friend, since Russia began its full-scale invasion in February 2022, calling on Zelenskiy to honour a fallen soldier with the award of Hero of Ukraine. A few service members have been named Hero of Ukraine since the war began, many posthumously, for acts of valor such as helping thwart enemy advances. But the number of petitions has increased dramatically since the invasion.
The petitions are not a formal part of the nomination process for the award but have grown in number recently. The government does not disclose its losses, but Western intelligence services have estimated that tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have been killed. Widows, mothers, and children of fallen soldiers are the primary petitioners.
Anna Birzul described her brother, Bohdan Krotov, as cheerful and selfless. He had been sensitive and supportive when they were young and lacked a strong father figure. Krotov saved four people the day he was killed, according to Birzul. Birzul has promoted her appeal widely on social media, and her petition had collected more than 18,800 signatures as of Tuesday.
Successful appeals must still pass through the soldier’s chain of command and be evaluated by a presidential committee established last May to handle the new influx. The award comes with substantial financial compensation, including free housing for honorees or their surviving relatives. But money is not a big consideration for people such as Victorria Vlasenko, whose husband was killed.
The flood of petitions presents a challenge for the government, which must choose who should be formally recognized while also maintaining collective morale. Memorializing the fallen is likely to become an increasingly urgent issue in Ukraine as the war continues to affect the lives of countless soldiers and their loved ones.
(Reporting by Dan Peleschuk; Editing by Mike Collett-White and Timothy Heritage)
